Schabir Shaik, the flamboyant Durban businessman accused of fraud and corruption, remained largely unshaken in the first week that he took the witness stand to defend himself.

Supported by his equally colourful brothers - Mo, Yunus, Chippy, wife Zuleka, and former journalist and now family spin doctor Ranjeni Munusamy - Shaik maintained his innocence defending every allegation against him.

While the court was packed to capacity with Shaik supporters on the first few days after he took the stand, the public gallery was almost empty for the better part of the week.

Journalists and lawyers made up most of the court attendees thereafter.

Snappily dressed in a different designer suit almost every day, Shaik fiddled with his glasses, frequently drank from a glass of water and stared straight ahead at the court windows opposite him as he answered questions from his counsel - advocate Francois van Zyl - who is leading the evidence.

At times, Shaik would muster a smile as presiding judge Hillary Squires interjected with short and sharp questions.

As Shaik told the court of his relationship with Deputy President Jacob Zuma - who seems to be a common denominator in the trial - Squires would intervene to extract more details.

When Shaik said he had an obligation to help Zuma, his long-time friend and comrade, by making several payments to his wives, children's school and university fees and even advancing the deputy president with petty cash, Squires would interject.

"You never suggested to him to reduce his standard of living?" he would ask.

Shaik would reply : "Zuma is not a man for Armani perfumes, Cartier watches and Hugo Boss suits.

"He had a sizeable family and a salary of about R12 000 (while he was economic affairs and tourism MEC in KwaZulu-Natal).

"They were in a financially structured crisis. They had no assets and low income. This was the world of our exiles."

The stakes are high. Shaik is accused of having a corrupt relationship with the man who could become South Africa's next president.

The state alleges that Shaik used Zuma to advance his business interests and, in return, kept him on a retainer.

While it is Shaik who is on trial, with Zuma's name featuring prominently in court proceedings, there are other characters that make the proceedings interesting.

Shaik's brothers, especially Mo (of Hefer Commission fame) and Munusamy (the former Sunday Times reporter who broke the news that former Scorpions boss Bulelani Ngcuka was allegedly an apartheid spy) sat next to each other among the journalists covering the trial.

While Shaik's brothers are giving "moral" support to their beleaguered brother, Munusamy is on an "unofficial" spin-doctoring brief.

Although Mo had an unpleasant encounter with Hefer Commission evidence leader Kessie Naidu, they are together almost all the time during tea breaks.

Naidu meets the Shaik clan in a nearby café to discuss the case.

Naidu is representing Thint (formerly known as Thompson CSF) whose director Alain Thetard is accused of having written the notorious "encrypted fax" which allegedly contains a bribe agreement between Zuma, Shaik and Thetard.

The state alleges that Zuma was offered a R500 000 annual bribe in exchange for protecting Thint in the event of an investigation into the arms deal.

Thint got a multimillion rand stake in the country's multibillion rand arms deal.

On Thursday, after leading evidence on Shaik's payments to Zuma and the apparent use of the deputy president's name by Shaik in his business adventures, Van Zyl told the court that it was "time to talk about the encrypted fax".

As he drew the court's attention to the file that contained the encrypted fax, Naidu and advocate Mohamed Patel (representing Zuma) swung into action with pens and notepads at the ready.

It is perhaps the encrypted fax that got Shaik on the witness stand.

Squires ruled last week that the fax and several other documents were admissible evidence which dealt the defence a heavy blow.

Always evasive, Shaik said he knew nothing of the encrypted fax, adding that he had only spoken to Thetard requesting a donation for the Jacob Zuma RDP Education Fund.

Asked whether he knew how much the donation would be, Shaik said he did not, but if he could say he would have requested "at least R10 million".

There were times when Shaik took a long pause to answer questions from Van Zyl, including incidents where Van Zyl told Shaik that he (Shaik) had used Zuma to further his business interests.

"No, my Lord, I reject that with the resentment it deserves," said Shaik.

He told the court how he "took" R2 million intended for the renovation of one of Zulu King Goodwill Zwelithini's palaces and used some of it in his group because he did not know that the money was not for Zuma.

Shaik could have been unshaken this week, but he is likely to be shaken when he faces cross-examination from the two state advocates, Billy Downer and Anton Steynberg .

With acknowledgements to Wonder Hlongwa and the City Press.